This easy vegan vanilla cake is the perfect dessert for birthday parties, graduations, weddings or just because occasions. Nothing says happy like a soft and sweet vanilla cake and creamy frosting!
This white cake has it all--it's fluffy, has the most tender and moist crumb, and a deep vanilla flavor. Dress it up with some fancy buttercream work or keep it simple with a drizzle of chocolate ganache, this cake is sure to delight!
It's admittedly a lot harder to make a good vanilla cake vegan than it is to make a chocolate or other strongly flavored cake (carrot, apple, red velvet--you get the idea). Vanilla is a delicate flavor that is easily overpowered if you use the wrong ingredients or even the wrong proportions of ingredients. White cakes also have the propensity to come out dry, for whatever reason.
This recipe is everything you want from a vanilla cake and more! Even better that it just happens to be vegan. Making vegan cakes is a unique process from their egg and dairy counterparts, but the results are equally tasty!
How to make a vegan cake:
Traditional baking uses butter to whip air into a batter and eggs for structure, stability, and leavening. We switch out butter for a neutral flavored oil (like canola or safflower), and depend on leavening from baking powder and baking soda.
To start we clabber the plant milk with apple cider vinegar to make a quick buttermilk. While most non-dairy milk options will work, soy milk, almond/cashew milk, and oat milk will have the best results (and please don't use rice milk which is too watery).
Adding a little vinegar to the recipe does a few things: it reacts with the baking soda for leavening, it tenderizes the gluten formation for a softer cake, and it slows down browning as it lowers the pH of the cake.
Next, we mix together the dry ingredients. I'm a huge proponent of weighing your ingredients as there is very little room for error if you weigh. Kitchen scales are inexpensive and yet one of the best investments you can make if you love to bake!
If you're measuring by volume, I ask that you measure your flour in this specific way: First whisk the flour in its container to fluff and undo any settling of the flour. Then scoop with your measuring cup so it's overflowing.
Remove the excess by scraping across the top with the back of a knife. This is how I measure, so for best results you should do the same! Also keep in mind I use US standard measuring cups, which are a little different than UK and Australian.
With the flour we add in the granulated sugar (use organic or a certified vegan one if you're concerned about bone char in the mix), baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk everything together so it's fluffy and well combined.
Then to the buttermilk mixture, mix in oil and vanilla extract until smooth. Use a good quality pure vanilla extract, this recipe calls for a lot of vanilla and the flavor really shines through at the end.
We add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix with a whisk. While with egg-based cakes you have to be very careful to not over whisk, this is less of an issue with vegan cakes.
In fact, a little gluten development through whisking helps build the structure and stability of the cake. Don't over do it, just mix the cake batter just until it's nice and smooth.
Baking the cakes:
Do not add the wet ingredients to the dry until 1) your oven is preheated and 2) your baking pan(s) are prepared. Once the wet ingredients are added the baking soda will immediately begin to react, so waiting to bake your cake will result in a flatter and less desirable result.
The cakes are baked at 350 ºF. This relatively low temperature keeps the cake from browning too quickly on the outside, and helps lessen the doming of the cake.
Watch for visual cues that you cakes are done baking. When done, the edges of the cake will be golden and have started to pull away from the sides of the pan. A cake tester will also pull out clean, or with one or two crumbs. If there is any stickiness then continue baking it until done.
If you open the oven door too early in the baking process, this can cause the center of the cake to collapse. An oven light helps you keep an eye on the cake to watch for the visual cues before opening to test.
To prep your baking pans, I use a method I learned from the vegan dessert guru, Fran Costigan. I spray a coating of oil inside the pan, then add a piece of parchment to cover the bottom. I love buying the precut parchment circles, but you can also cut them out yourself. This method allows for easy release from the pan, then just remove the parchment paper from the bottom and you're good to go!
Decorating the cakes:
This post is more about baking the cake than decorating. But just a few quick notes to set yourself up for success.
Always chill the cakes before frosting. Cold cakes = less crumbs = a better finish on the frosting. This is also true if you plan on cutting off the top of your cake to level, or to cut it in half to create more layers.
Use cake boards when wrapping up your cakes to refrigerate as they will keep the bottom of the cake nice and flat. While you could cut up clean cardboard or foam core board to size, you can also just buy pre-cut cake cardboard.
I used my Vegan Aquafaba Strawberry Italian Meringue Buttercream on this cake, minus the strawberry part. Feel free to use that recipe (and check out that post for a step by step photo tutorial of frosting a cake). You can make the buttercream in advance--it freezes well--and then rewhip (defrost in the fridge if frozen) to fluff it back up for easy spreading.
I sprinkled mini-chocolate chips between the layers after adding the buttercream. These led to a nice textural contrast to the cake, and I love me some chocolate! If you're unsure where to find them, Enjoy Life Foods makes vegan chocolate chips in full size and minis.
Lastly I drizzled some Vegan Salted Caramel Sauce over the cake, and used the recipe from my friend Cupful of Kale. The salted caramel is made from brown sugar and is sooo delicious, we found ourselves drizzling it over each slice of cake to serve!
If you're going to use fresh flowers to decorate make sure to do so in a food safe manner! Here's one nice article on How to Decorate a Cake with Flowers by Olive and Artisan. Just make sure you do your research on how to safely use flowers if you are going to do so!
I made this cake as a tiered cake because it was a test for the cake I am making for my friends' wedding. It held up beautifully sitting out on the counter overnight, and the ultra moist and tender crumb makes for the most delectable cake! There are plenty of tutorials online if you wish to do the same. Or if you ask nicely, maybe I'll make one too 🙂 !
If you make this cake, please let me know! Give the recipe a rating and leave a review below! Also don't forget to share your creations with me on Instagram, tag @thecuriouschickpea and #thecuriouschickpea, I absolutely love seeing your photos!
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Note:
- Vegan cakes have a tendency to be stickier than their non-vegan counterparts, so keeping the cake cold before decorating is extra important. The cakes should be refrigerated until thoroughly chilled before leveling or torting (cutting the cake into 2 or more layers) and before frosting.
- The cake shown here has a bottom tier of three 8" cakes and a top tier of three 6" cakes. The batter for one 8-inch cake is divided in half to make two 6-inch cakes. So to make this exact set up use the ingredients to make two 8-inch cakes plus one 8-inch cake. Then make another one of the one 8-inch cakes to divide into two 6-inch cake pans. For a third cake, the 8-inch cake ingredients in half.
Easy Vegan Vanilla Cake
This vanilla cake has a soft, tender, moist crumb and just happens to be vegan. It's easy to make and the perfect cake for birthdays and celebrations!
Ingredients
One 8-inch cake or Two 6-inch cakes
- 2 teaspoon (10g) apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoon (270g) plant milk
- 1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon (210g) all purpose flour*
- ¾ cups + 1 tablespoon (170g) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon (6g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (2g) baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon (5g) salt
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoon (82g) oil
- 1 ½ tablespoon (16g) vanilla extract
Two 8-inch cakes
- 1 ½ tablespoon (20g) apple cider vinegar
- 2 ¼ cups (540g) plant milk
- 3 cups + 2 tablespoon (420) all purpose flour*
- 1 ½ cups + 2 tablespoon (340g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon (12g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (5g) baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon (10g) salt
- ¾ cup (164g) oil
- 3 tablespoon (32g) vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 ºF. Prepare the baking pan(s) by spraying with oil then placing a parchment paper circle to cover the bottom of the pan.
- In a mixing bowl add the plant milk and vinegar and set aside to clabber for 5-10 minutes.
- In a second mixing bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until fluffy.
- Add the oil and vanilla extract into the clabbered milk and mix to combine. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk until the batter is smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan (or divide in half if baking 2 cakes). Bake the 8" cakes for 36-38 minutes, bake the 6" cakes for 31-33 minutes. The cakes are done when the edges are golden and have pulled away from the sides of the pan and a test comes out clean or with one or two crumbs.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Then working gently, turn over the pan with a wire cooling rack to catch the cake. Remove the pan, then peel off the parchment paper. Turn the cake back right side up and leave to cool fully on a cooling rack.
- Place the cooled cakes on a cake board and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Place in the fridge or in freezer-safe ziplock bags in the freezer until ready to decorate.
Notes
*To properly measure the flour: whisk to undo settling, scoop, then level. Measuring any other way could result in too much or too little flour. If possible it is best to use a kitchen scale.
This cake was decorated with my vegan aquafaba italian meringue buttercream (minus the strawberry sauce), with mini chocolate chips between the layers, and a vegan salted caramel sauce drip by Cupful of Kale.
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Would this work for a larger sheet cake in the size of 15x12x2?
Baking two began sheet cakes for a graduation this week. My first time! So trying to not mess this up. Lol 🙂
Hi Carissa, I haven’t personally made this recipe into a sheet cake so I can’t say with 100% certainty, but I would expect that it would work.
Hi! This cake looks amazing!! What are your thoughts on substituting the granulated sugar for coconut sugar? Thanks !
I tried with coconut sugar and the cake batter had the consistency of peanut butter. It's in the oven right now... so we'll see how it turns out. It does not look promising.
I haven't made the cake with coconut sugar, but did have one reader report back that she did and that it came out well for them. I hope yours turns out if you make that substitution!
Hi! Can I make cupcakes with this recipe? Can I half the recipe?
Hi Karla,
I have not made cupcakes myself from this recipe yet so cannot give specifics, but someone just shared with me that they did so last week and they were very happy with the results. You can certainly half the recipe, the "one 8-inch cake or two 6-inch cakes" amounts would get about a dozen cupcakes, so if you halve those amounts you would probably get 6 cupcakes.
@Karla, yes I have been using this recipe for cupcakes and it is great 🙂
@Marina, hi there. May I ask, how long did you bake the cupcakes in the oven?
I made this and I am not a baker but it turned out so good!
Hi there. Would this cake work for a rainbow cake? Have you tried that yet? It looks and sounds just perfect, hoping that it will be fine if coloured.
Hi Michelle, I haven’t tried adding due to the cake batter but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! For best results use a gel dye, as this will have the boldest color with adding the least amount of changes to the batter.
Hello, this was the question I was about to ask and saw you asking it. I will be attempting to turn this into a rainbow cake for my twins' fifth birthday and was wondering if you tried it out and what were the results you got. The cake looks just amazing!
Could I substitute another type of vinegar for the ACV? Maybe rice vinegar?
Hi Mel, you can definitely substitute a different vinegar. I just recommend a neutral tasting vinegar like white vinegar or one that will complement the cake like apple cider vinegar. I haven’t tried rice vinegar in this cake but imagine it would work nicely as well, but if possible I’d choose an unseasoned rice vinegar.
This cake is so amazing! I've made it 4 or 5 times now - and most recently, I subbed the vanilla extract for lemon and made myself a lemon curd and lemon icing, and it was AMAZING! I have just recently gone fully vegan, and I have been asked to make several wedding cakes, which I, of course, wanted to be vegan - but if I couldn't find a good vegan recipe then I was just gonna make them non-vegan since I know those recipes have been delicious in the past. But this original recipe and when I subbed the lemon were SO MUCH BETTER than the multitude of vanilla/lemon cake recipes I have tried in the past. This is now my go-to recipe! Thank you so much for sharing your gifts! And the knowledge that goes into how these recipes work and what doesn't work. Making another lemon cake tomorrow with this recipe!
Hi Rachel, I'm so thrilled that this cake worked out so well for you! It makes me really happy to hear!
Hi Rachel, if you get this would you mind sharing your recipe for vegan lemon curd- I would like to make a vegan passion fruit curd to use with this cake for my sis in laws wedding cake commissioned for end Jan!?
Hey Lynne,
Here's my vegan lemon curd recipe I used, which is enough for a 4 layer cake (two 8inch cakes cut in half):
1 c lemon juice
1/2 c water
3/4c organic sugar (or less, depending on your taste, sometimes I'll do between 1/2c and 3/4c for a more tart flavor)
4tbsp corn starch
Pinch of salt
6tbsp soy milk/or other milk alternative
2tbsp vegan butter
1. Mix lemon juice, water, cornstarch, sugar, and salt together in saucepan. Whisk over medium heat, stirring continually until boiling.
2. Boil for 1 minute, not stirring - VERY IMPORTANT - I've not done the full minute before and it did not set up firm enough to hold up the cake and it oozed out all over the place - it should be thick and turning translucent.
3. Remove from heat and add soy milk and butter, mix well with whisk until butter is completely melted and the curd is creamy looking.
4. Refrigerate until cooled completely and ready to use. I recommend at least a couple hours until the curd is slightly firm and but jiggly - again, it can result in an oozy cake if you try to use it too soon... Learn from my mistakes lol
Hope it turns out well with passion fruit! You'll have to let me know if it does! I've done it before with oranges instead of lemons and that turned out pretty good, but I've never tried passionfruit (:
Hello! Thanks so much for the recipe, this looks really great, can't wait to try this. Wonderful What type of plant milk you used and have people been using? curious as this could change the flavor.
Hi Alma, I use plain soy milk or oat milk typically (not unsweetened, not vanilla). Almond milk or cashew milk would also work well as would coconut milk beverage (not the think stuff in the can). My top vegan milks are soy and oat, however!
Hi,
Thanks for the recipe, I can’t wait to make it for my son’s 2nd birthday.
I was wondering how far in advance I could make this cake? I’m planning to ice it in fondant as well.
Many thanks!
You can keep the cakes on cardboard cake rounds, and wrap them well in plastic wrap before placing them in a large heavy duty ziplock bag and that can be left in the fridge for about a week before getting too stale, or it can be frozen for one month (make sure the ziplock is freezer safe, and you can always wrap the cakes in foil after the plastic wrap and before putting in a ziplock bag for extra freezer burn protection).
Keeping my fingers crossed The batter was pretty thin going into the pans. Did my best to use precise measurements. I’ll let you know!
Vegan cake batters are often a lot thinner than "traditional" egg baking. I'm sure you did everything correctly and hope it turned out for you!
This is among the best vegan cake recipes i have ever made. It turned out awesome!! Thank you so much for sharing such a delicious recipe.
I made this for my Uncle's wedding. It was my first time making a wedding cake ever. I made it 3-tiered and layered buttercream and raspberry filling inside. It was a huge success!! I have already been asked to make it for another wedding. 🙂
Hi
Has anyone made this into cupcakes? I am doing it as a trial for a large vegan cake order.
I am presuming less cooking, normally 22mins for my cupcakes.
Any tips appreciated!
Cheers
Jenny
I made cupcakes and they were great. We served at a non vegan birthday for a vegan option and some people ate them and had no idea they were vegan
love this recipe! it's light and fluffy! thanks for this
Hello, if I wanted to make a 10" layer, what would the ratio for ingredients be?
Hi
I made these for birthday cupcakes twice now and they were a hit. Could you make this recipe lemon flavored? Like would adding lemon juice or extract throw anything off. I’m making my sons wedding cake in a little over a week and planning to use this recipe but toying w making it lemon
Hi! I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed the recipe! You can make this into a lemon sponge, substitute freshly squeezed lemon juice for the apple cider vinegar. I haven't played with adding more acid to the cake so I'm not sure about increasing that too much, but you could add lemon zest to the cake to amp up the lemon flavor. It's a good idea for a new recipe! 🙂
I may try it today w the 6 inch size and see how it tastes and go from there. My non-vegan daughter requested this as her birthday cake after the first test run! Thanks so much for the recipe you may have just created a new family favorite! We have a carrot and strawberry cake passed down from my great grandma that is a staple and this one is moving up in the ranks to that status at a fast pace! Thanks again!
Also have you made these and frozen to use later in the week. Like if I make it today and freeze for frosting on Thursdaybor Friday?
That's a great idea, I'd love to hear how a lemon sponge came out! 🙂 That strawberry cake sounds delicious, I love old family recipes!
As for the freezing question, you can freeze the sponges! I put them on a cardboard round, then wrap them in plastic wrap and then put that in a freezer bag to prevent any freezer-burn or iciness. If you'd like you can torte the cakes (cut them in half to make 2 layers) when the cakes are still frozen, or just partially defrosted.
I may try it today w the 6 inch size and see how it tastes and go from there. My non-vegan daughter requested this as her birthday cake after the first test run! Thanks so much for the recipe you may have just created a new family favorite! We have a carrot and strawberry cake passed down from my great grandma that is a staple and this one is moving up in the ranks to that status at a fast pace! Thanks again!
Hello, there!
Such a scrumptious recipe which I’m dying for to make! ??
I’ll be making this recipe for the first time, and was wondering if you would have a tutorial video of this recipe? If so, would that be okay to share?
Thanks so much?
I don't have a video yet but that would be great to add at some point 🙂
psst.. I've added a video of me making the cake! Two 6-inch cakes to be precise.
Hi Eva,
This cake was an absolute hit with my kids :-). Wonderful recipe!
One thing though, is the cake supposed to feel a little sticky? I am pretty sure the cake is not under/over baked and I could cut it in to clean slices. Its just that when we ate it, felt it to be a little sticky.
So glad you guys enjoyed the cake! Vegan cakes are often a bit stickier than cakes with egg. For decorating the cake it's best to refrigerate the cake until they're well chilled. But some stickiness is expected. That being said if it's crazy sticky perhaps yours just needed an extra minute or two of baking time (not that it's really under baked, but that might take care of that). It's also possible that if you bake by volume vs. weight you might have a bit more liquid to flour than mine.
I made one 8” today and it was the best vegan vanilla cake I’ve tried to date. I have attempted three other recipes and two of them deflated and one just didn’t rise. I did make one modification since I prefer my cakes less sweet, I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup. I will be making it again but with a couple more modifications. I will reduce the vanilla to just a tsp since I thought it was overpowering. Also, the cake was too greasy for my liking so I will reduce the oil to half. This will be my base for making more white cakes. Thank you so much for sharing!
I couldn’t resist and made two more of the 8” cakes today with some modifications and it turned out even better than yesterday! Instead of vanilla I replaced it completely with fresh lemon juice. Also, I took your suggestion about not completely eliminating the oil and substituted 1/2 cup with apple sauce leaving 1/4 cup of oil. Since I was using apple sauce I reduced the sugar content to 1/2 cup. The cake turned out perfectly! I’m keeping one cake to eat and decorating the other for a party tomorrow. Thanks so much!